We always hear about the video game franchises that have been gone for years that deserve revivals. From Crash Bandicoot to Burnout, the list of series that fans have been clamoring for developers to give a second (or third) chance fluctuates with each passing year as developers try and satiate their fan-bases. While we always think about how great it would be if our favorite series from yesteryear were revived, having no entry at all could actually be preferred to having poor, mismanaged entries dangled in front of us.
For many fans of some of the biggest franchises in the game industry, that is a reality. Entry after entry, fans of some series endure poor decisions and unwanted directions. Sometimes, it doesn’t even take several poor entries; often it’s just the result of one bad decision putting that series on the wrong road. If you’re a fan of a series’ heyday, having that poor decision or unwanted direction dangled in front of you instead of the game you really want can be infuriating.
Here are 10 franchises that do just that; they haven’t gone completely dormant, but they fail to deliver to fans what they want. Read our list of mismanaged franchises and sound off in the comments with any that we missed.
Sonic the Hedgehog
The Sonic the Hedgehog series has been a dramatic rollercoaster ride for its fans. The once-proud series that challenged Mario for the industry crown sputtered out in the early 2000s and never recovered. Games like Sonic 2006 show off what a mess development of the series has been at times, and even earnest attempts at giving fans what they want through Sonic the Hedgehog 4 have fallen flat. Perhaps the most fundamental misunderstanding of fan desires came with the Sonic Boom spin-off series, which redesigned the characters as more cartoony and the gameplay as slower and more methodical to largely negative reception.
Thankfully, other games have begun carrying the speedy platforming torch for ol’ Sonic while Sega works to figure out the right way to approach a game centered on the industry icon. Titles that reward players for quickly and stylishly completing levels like Action Henk or even Sega’s own Tembo the Badass Elephant will light up the eyes of the previously enthused Sonic fan, while less-derivative experiences like Speedrunners or the Rayman series could also help scratch that itch.
Fable
The promises of a morality system that not only affects how NPCs in the world react to you, but also how you look, were ambitious to say the least. Perhaps most impressive was that Fable series developer Lionhead rose to the challenge with a high level of success through its first three games. Unfortunately, as the series grew older, the IP was shoehorned into new genres through titles like Fable Heroes, a family-friendly side-scroller; Fable: The Journey, an on-rails Kinect experience; and Fable Legends, a cooperative action-RPG. Unfortunately, after a series of missteps in the direction of its flagship franchise, Lionhead was shuttered by Microsoft and Fable Legends was canceled during its beta phase.
Though Fable is a unique series, several third-person action-RPGs in a fantasy setting could sate fans’ desires. Sprawling RPGs with fantastical settings and morality systems like Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt feature elements that players loved in Fable, but they don’t quite strike the same tone as Lionhead’s quirky series.
Click on to the next page to read more franchises that have failed to meet players’ expectations in recent years.